I did not watch the presidential election unfold on television. I couldn’t stomach the thought of the hours of banter, the presupposing and recapping. I chose a different filter – I watched the election unfold on the Internet. Between the sometimes emotional entries on blogs of friends and strangers; updates on the CSPAN / AP map; headlines from the local newspaper site; and man-on-the-street reporting at BlackTable and others, I accepted the outcome earlier in the evening than most.
What struck me most – on election night and into yesterday and today – was the swell of emotion from Democrats. This wasn’t the aggravating election of 2000 or the pre-determined defeat of Dukakis … it was a heartbreaking rejection of the values of opportunity, equality and moderation.
Sure there were angry entries on some blogs and “buck up, campers” talk elsewhere, but there was also an overwhelming quiet. We are sad and disappointed. Many of us cried. We were incredibly emotionally invested in the outcome of this election because we were fighting for the America we believe in, the values we hold dear. Thomas Friedman’s says it best in his column today:
But what troubled me yesterday was my feeling that this election was tipped because of an outpouring of support for George Bush by people who don't just favor different policies than I do - they favor a whole different kind of America. We don't just disagree on what America should be doing; we disagree on what America is.
So, now I am a minority.
Just shy of half of us are in this position. We are numb and bleary-eyed this week. Floundering for how to make sense of a country that doesn’t act like what we think of as America. Trying to understand how religion can be used in ways that seem, well, unchristian. And, wondering just how grave the situation will really get.
I’m not sure how I came to live a life different than the so-called norm, but I do know that when I was very young, I agreed with the people who supported Bush in this election. And, age, open discussion, education, exposure to people different than myself, and travel changed my mind. Perhaps the only answer to a renewed America is a true national discussion instead of each side listening to their own entrenched institutions (media v clergy) and nothing else. More on that in the days to come …
posted by Leigh Householder
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